An ode to toast and milkmaid

My favourite food item for many years was Nestle's condensed milk. They came in tiny cans that went by the name of Milkmaid. My brother and I ate, and drank as well, Milkmaid with everything-with bread, bun, chapattis, puris, dosas, and idlis. When there was absolutely nothing to eat with it, we just put the can to our mouth and sucked the thick milk out. So much so, that our household consumption of Milkmaid was two cans a week!

Childhood in Bangalore is filled with such quirky food memories. For instance, I still remember the open air south Indian restaurant named Udyavan, best known for its dosas and idlis. But the only reason I remember the place today is because the friendly waiter always gave us toast and Milkmaid on the side! Just goes to show that not even restaurants were immune to the milk maid's charm.

When I pass the glass and concrete monolith of Bangalore Central today, I remember the quaint and old world Victoria Hotel that it displaced. Lunch at the Victoria meant a good three-hour affair, to say the least. Church Street on the other hand played host to the splendid RR (not the new one), the Andhra restaurant where your eyes watered as you polished the spicy fish, meat and the thali off the leaf.

Another place imprinted in my memory is MTR-the Mavalli Tiffin Rooms situated in Lalbagh Road-one of Bangalore's oldest food joints. My mother used to regale us with stories about how there would be a long serpentine queue just outside the legendary MTR; how people would start queuing up from as early as six am to sample their famous rava idli (that were, reportedly, "invented" during the World War II, when rice was in short supply and MTR hit upon rava instead of rice and came up with this winning breakfast item); how even a chief minister of Karnataka stood in a queue once to taste their fare; how one had to reserve a table for lunch, as unreserved customers were made to wait in a waiting room for hours.

After all this, I was bitterly disappointed when we once landed up there at 6.25 am and there was no queue! That I think MTR is over-rated even today is entirely my mother's fault for unnecessarily hyping up the restaurant.

A year ago I was nearly in tears when Lake View shifted out from MG Road and my joy knew no bounds when I saw it back recently, reclaiming its rightful spot. So happy was I that I had to go in and celebrate by eating a Merry Widow Special. For those not in the loop, it's four big pieces of black forest cake in a boat-shaped dish with four scoops of ice cream and a topping of nuts. Sinful, isn't it?

But with the return of Lake View, life has come full circle. Now if we could only get the restaurants to serve toast and Milkmaid!

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